In Our Opinion - Any help is welcome

We applaud Jo-Ann Rosen, the local therapist who has voluntarily organized a support group for grandparents raising grandchildren in the area.

The number of grandparents who end up with responsibility for their sons' and daughters' offspring is growing - and frankly alarming.

Our community has no lack of drug and alcohol problems and it's evident that substance abuse plays a large part in the need for grandparents to step in when young substance abusers have children they can neither support nor care for.

It's a tragedy for all these children that they have irresponsible parents, that they will likely be shuffled from one home to another, and that their own parents may or may not spend any time raising them, never mind raising them together.

(Why are all these women continuing to have babies? But that's another editorial.)

In the meantime, grandparents, at an age when they should be able to think about taking it easy, are instead taking on a huge daily burden. Having children at home is not easy. It's not only stressful but it is plain hard physical work.

They need all the help they can get. If this support group can give them some peace of mind that they are not alone, and perhaps good advice from others about how to get through the day, that's all to the good.